Julie Gates

Educational Background

• Ph.D. University of Utah, 2002
• B.S. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1991

Research Interests

During development of a single cell, the fertilized egg, is transformed into a mature organism. This remarkable transformation not only requires the generation of a large number of cells, but also requires that these cells organize themselves into the various tissues and organs that comprise the mature organism. To do this the cells of the embryo must undergo orchestrated changes in cell shape, cell migrations and cell rearrangements, all of which require remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton. The actincytoskeleton is composed of a network of actin filaments that underlie the plasma membrane. Filaments grow by the preferential addition of actin subunits to one end. Remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton is achieved through the interplay of numerous proteins that affect the formation, continued growth or disassembly of actin filaments. This alters the geometry of the actin meshwork underlying the plasma membrane, which in turn dictates cell shape and influences the ability of cells to migrate as single cells or sheets of cells. A long-term goal of my research is to determine how the different actinregulators cooperate to generate the incredible diversity of cell behavior seen in the intact animal during development.

Selected Publications

* Denotes Bucknell Undergraduate Co-Author

Gates, J. (2012). Drosophila egg chamber elongation: Insights into how tissues and organs are shaped. Fly 6:231-227. Review.

Gates, J., Nowotarski, S.H., Yin, H., Mahaffey, J.P., Bridges, T., *Herrera, C., Homem, C.C., Janody, F. Montell, D.J. and Peifer, M. (2009). Enabled and Capping protein play important roles in shaping cell behavior during Drosophila oogenesis. Developmental Biology 333:90-107.

Gates, J., Mahaffey, J.P., Rogers, S.L., Emerson, M., Rogers, E.M., *Sottile, S.L., Van Vactor, D., Gertler, F.B. and Peifer, M. (2007). Enabled plays key roles in embryonic epithelial morphogenesis in Drosophila. Development 134:2027-2039.

Gates, J. and Peifer, M. (2005). Can 1000 reviews be wrong? Actin, a-catenin and Adherens Junctions. Cell 123:769-772. Review.

Grevengoed, E.E., Fox, D.T., Gates, J., and Peifer, M. (2003). Balancing different types of actin polymerization at distinct sites: Roles for Ableson kinase and Enabled. Journal of Cell Biology 163:1267-1279.